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Basic Search

Search for records from our product indexes. All successful searches are
added to the Search History table. Remember
to follow all applicable search rules when
creating your search queries.

You can select up to three fields on the Search page as your default search
fields. You can enter up to 6,000 terms in a search query.

Adding a new field also sets the second field to the AND operator. You can
change the AND operator to OR or NOT.

Please note that your settings are applied to all product databases in your
subscription package.

Note: Administrators may set to display one to three search
fields as the default search fields for their entire institution.

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Default Number of Search Fields to Display

This feature allows you to select the number of search fields to display when
you begin a new search. You can always add more fields to your search or you can
remove search fields from the Search page.

You can select:

One field to search. The default field is always Topic. You can always select
a different field to search.

Three fields to search. The default fields are always Topic, Author, and
Publication Name. You can always select different fields to search.

Add Another Field. The default field is always Topic. You can always select a
different field to search.

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Implicit AND Operator

The product uses an implicit AND operator when you enter two or more adjacent
terms in most fields. For example, entering rainbow trout fish
farm in the search field is equivalent to entering rainbow AND
trout AND fish AND farm; both queries return the same number of
results.

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Basic Search: Search Steps

Go to the Timespan and
More Settings sections of the search page if
you need to change your search settings.

Enter your search terms in one or more of search fields.

The following options are also available when you perform a search.

The Add Another Field link allows you to add more search
fields to the Basic Search page.

The Reset Form link lets you clear any search queries that
you have entered. This action resets the search page to the original search
fields This action applies to the Author search and Cited Reference Search.

The Select from Index link allows you to select an item
(such as a publication name or an author name) when you perform a Publication
Name or Author search.

The Auto-suggest Publication Names option allows you to turn
on or off suggestions for publication names. When this feature is ON, the
product provides a list of publication names based on the characters that you
enter in the search field. For example, if you enter CANC, the
product displays a list of publications that begins with these four characters,
such as Cancer Biology Therapy and Cancer Investigation.

The Default Number of Search Fields to Display option allows
you to select only the Topic field or you can select the Topic, Author, and
Publication Name fields.

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Did You Mean ...

All database products within the Web of Science platform includes a
spell checker to check your search queries against common spellings and their
variants in order to determine if an alternative spelling exists that would
improve your search results.

To turn on this feature, select Modify Settings from the
search page, and then select On from the "Auto-suggest
publication names" option.

If the system determines that an alternative spelling exists, a Did You Mean
text box appears offering you an alternative search query. The tool checks full
terms -- not truncated terms or terms within quotation marks.

If no results are found, and there are no Did You Mean suggestions, then the
system displays a list of search tips with links to help and a training video.

If you select the Did You Mean suggestion, the system launches a new search
and takes you to the Results page. The original search and the Did You Mean
search both display in the Search History.

Important Note: Did You Mean only works for Topic and Title
searches.

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Save Settings

The product allows you to save your settings. These settings are found under
the More Settings section on any Search page.

You can save these settings so that they are available each time you begin a
search session. For example, you can set your timespan settings to search All
Years or Year to Date. Each time you begin a new session, the product
remembers this setting and only searches for records added to the
product within the specified timespan.

You must be a registered user and you must sign in to save your search
settings.

Select the desired timespan and/or indexes that you want to include in future
searches.

If you have not signed in, then click the sign in or register
link that appears at the bottom of the Search page.

Click the Save Settings button. The next time you sign into
a new session, the product remembers your settings so you can
immediately begin your research.

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How to Create a Citation Alert

A citation alerts notifies you by e-mail whenever a document you specify has
been cited by a new article. The alert is active for one year. You may renew the
alert at any time. We will send you an e-mail approximately two weeks before the
alert expires to remind you to renew the alert.

To create an alert, you must be a registered user and you must sign in to
Web of Science.

Sign in to Web of Science.

Run a search from the Search or Advanced Search page to find records for
which you want to create a Citation Alert.

From the Results page, select the title of a record to go to the Full Record
page.

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Interface Language

The interface language that you select determines the language of the
on-screen instructions and help information. Consequently, search queries must
always be in English. The results of your search are always in English.